MGMT carves out its own alt-rock style

The group has managed to combine psychedelic influences with alt-rock anthems in a way that none of its modern-day peers have replicated.

So people should be getting excited as the group, which will headline the Showbox SoDo at 9 p.m. Wednesday for a sold-out show, prepares to release its third album.

For the latest record, MGMT again teamed up with famed producer Dave Fridmann, who helmed some of the best albums by the Flaming Lips and also guided MGMT’s own debut.

That album, “Oracular Spectacular,” lived up to its name, featuring the hits “Kids,” “Time to Pretend,” “The Youth” and “Electric Feel.” The group self-produced its second album, “Congratulations,” which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts despite the presence of an obvious hit single.

Time will tell what this third album has in store, but fans can expect to get a little taste of the record during the upcoming Seattle show.

Tickets are sold out but can be found at marked-up prices at stubhub.com.

Blackstreet, meanwhile, is also prepping a new album. The R&B group formed by producer Teddy Riley will play the Showbox SoDo at 9:30 p.m. tonight.

Blackstreet is best known for its hit “No Diggity,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996.

The group seemed to have called it quits after releasing its 2003 album, “Level II,” and a greatest hits compilation the following year. But that isn’t the case. Riley has gotten back together with the band, saying in interviews that a new record is almost done.

The next Little Big Show — an ongoing series of benefit shows — will feature Jim James, the frontman for My Morning Jacket, at the Neptune Theatre at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

James has been branching out in recent years, former the supergroup Monsters of Folk with other rootsy indie rockers and, in February, releasing his first proper solo album, the critically acclaimed “Regions of Light and Sound of God.”

While tickets to his Seattle show are sold out, they can be found at a markup on stubhub.com.

Finally, Cold War Kids will play the Neptune Theatre at 8 p.m. Thursday.

The alt-rock band is touring behind its fourth album, “Dear Miss Lonelyhearts,” which saw release in April.

The group first made a splash in indie circles in 2007, and has gone increasingly pop on recent albums, a fact well-evidenced on the piano-driven single from its new album “Miracle Mile.”